What They're Saying About Michigan Baseball After Victory Over Vanderbilt
A look around the Internet after Michigan's victory over Vanderbilt in the first game of the College World Series:
Aaron Fitt, D1Baseball.com: Tenacious Offense Continues To Shine For Michigan
Michigan’s starting pitching has been so good in the College World Series that it would be easy to lose sight of just how good the offense has been. Michigan pitchers Tommy Henry, Karl Kauffmann and Jeff Criswell have been lights-out through four CWS games, combining to go 4-0, 2.25 with 33 strikeouts and seven walks in 36 innings. That’s a big reason Michigan finds itself one win away from its first national title since 1962.
But the Wolverines have also been the best offensive team in Omaha, by a wide margin. The other seven teams have hit a combined .228 in the CWS. Michigan is hitting .299, and it has drawn 24 walks in four games, leading to a .410 on-base percentage. No other team has better than a .361 OBP in Omaha.
For the fourth straight game, the Wolverines scored in the first inning Monday in the CWS Finals opener against Vanderbilt, and they kept the pressure on throughout the game, en route to a 7-4 victory. There has been no anxiety about playing on college baseball’s biggest stage; this team has come out loose and aggressive in all four of its CWS games, setting the tone in the first inning and never losing control.
“Everybody has said that. Everybody has commented on that: ‘You guys look so loose, you guys look like you’re having a lot of fun.’ And we are,” Michigan coach Erik Bakich said. “We’ve been on the road for six weeks and having the time of our lives. So we are loose. I would say that it’s just the recognition of the difference of when we weren’t loose and how we played, and how we play when we are loose and what a stark contrast it is in not only the execution on the field but the enjoyment factor of playing the game.”
On Monday, it was obvious once again just how much fun these Wolverines are having together. Their sheer joy was infectious.
John Kerr isn’t much of a storyteller. Not really a talker.
So his grandson, Jimmy, didn’t hear many stories of Michigan baseball’s fabled 1962 national championship team growing up. But once he arrived in Ann Arbor four years ago as a third-generation U-M player – his father, Derek, played for the 1984 team, the school’s last to advance to the College World Series – the stories started flowing.
As the Wolverines have rattled off wins over the past week and a half in Omaha, Kerr has noted the similarities in their paths.
In 1962, U-M’s first College World Series came against Texas; this year, it was against Texas Tech. That year, they beat Florida State; this year, the same.
“Too bad Santa Clara isn’t here this year,” Kerr said a week ago.
No, U-M’s final foe this year is bigger and badder than Santa Clara.
Vanderbilt is considered one of the best teams in college baseball, a well-oiled machine with plenty of experience on the game’s biggest stage. And Michigan has to beat it twice.
One down, one to go.
Hours after hearing his grandfather address the team along with former teammate Dick Honig, wearing a light-weight throwback version of Team 96’s uniforms, Kerr delivered the knock-out blow in a decisive 7-4 win over Vanderbilt. His no-doubt, two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning gave left-hander Tommy Henry much more insurance than he needed for his final win as a Wolverine, and now Team 153 – whose rallying cry throughout the NCAA tournament has been “We believe” – needs one final win to secure a seismic national championship.
Michigan, wearing its 1962 throwback uniforms to commemorate the last team to win a baseball national championship for the program, is now one win away from making history of its own.
But UM coach Erik Bakich has taught this team to not focus on making moments too big. This is one of those times.
The Wolverines, one of the last four teams in the NCAA Tournament, has had an improbable, surprising run and came a step closer with a 7-4 win over Vanderbilt, the No. 2 team in the country, before 24,707 at TD Ameritrade Park in the first game of the best-of-three championship series. The teams will play again Tuesday night. First pitch is 7 p.m.
“We have to shrink the moment, and this is what we've kept talking about, shrinking the moment and making it just about baseball and immersing these guys — these guys just need to immerse themselves into each other,” Bakich said. “That's really all it is. And if it can be just about baseball and just about immersing themselves into another one, then they're not thinking about winning a national championship. They're not thinking about what happens, we're about to win a regional at Corvallis and then we start to get tight.
“The way this has been working is to not get outside of ourselves and not make things too big, and our guys have done a great job of that. They know what they're playing for. These are — they know what the stakes are. They know the stage. They know everything. But they're not acting like the stage and the lights and the moment is too big because I think they're doing a really good job of just staying in the moment with each other and having as much fun as they can and being as loose as they possibly can.”
Eric Olson, Associated Press: Michigan beats Vandy 7-4; 1st title since ’62 is 1 win away
Michigan could sense the momentum slipping away.
Jimmy Kerr got it back.
Kerr homered for the third time in the College World Series, this time after Vanderbilt pulled within one in the sixth inning, and the Wolverines beat the Commodores 7-4 in Game 1 of the best-of-three finals Monday night.
“We needed that blast right there,” coach Erik Bakich said.
The Wolverines (50-20), who barely got into the NCAA Tournament after a poor finish to the regular season, are seeking the school’s first baseball championship since 1962. Ohio State is the last Big Ten school to take home the title, winning it all in 1966
“They know what they’re playing for,” Bakich said. “They know the stakes. They know the stage. They’re not acting like the stage and lights are too big. They’re doing a good job of staying in the moment and having as much fun as they can.”
Tommy Henry (12-5) was unflappable for a second straight start. Coming off a three-hit shutout of Florida State on June 17, he struck out eight while pitching 8 1/3 innings of seven-hit ball. Jeff Criswell got the last two outs.
Kerr’s two-run shot into the right-field bleachers in the seventh was followed by hugs all around for his family members. Among them were grandfather John Kerr, a member of the ’62 Wolverines, and dad Derek Kerr, who played on the 1984 team, the last one to make it to the CWS before this year.
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